Hello and welcome to the Spirit Guides.co.uk radio show with your host, Mark Chatterton. Today, we are pleased to welcome on the show, Jonathan Black, who is the pen name of Mark Booth. He is the author of three books: The Secret History of the World, The Secret History of Dante, and the recently published, The Sacred History – How Angels, Mystics and Higher Intelligence Made our World. Jonathan is also the person who brought Lorna Byrne to the wider world, and I am sure we will have an interesting programme today. So a warm welcome to you Jonathan.
You’ve been involved in the world of publishing for over twenty years now but let’s go back to before then. You went to school in Ipswich and then went to Oxford University where you studied Philosophy and Theology.

Questions:

Would you say you were particularly religious in your younger days?

You have a large collection of esoteric books, which I presume influenced you in deciding to write your first book, The Secret History of the World?

I read somewhere that during your research for this book that someone from one of the secret societies that you were researching offered to initiate you further into their society, but you declined?

Moving onto your second book, The Secret History of Dante, which came out earlier this year, what was it that made you want to write a book about Dante, who is best known as the author of The Divine Comedy which looks at purgatory, heaven and hell?

Let’s move on to talk about The Sacred History, which I suppose looks at the supernatural history of the world, especially through the stories of the major religions and cultures. In the book you write about the lives of various religious figures such as Moses, Abraham, the Bu

ddha, Jesus, and Mohammed: as well as other influential people such as Socrates, St Francis of Assisi, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Jung and even Hitler. Did you find it hard choosing who to write about, or did these figures come into your mind quite easily?

Out of all the various people from ancient times, would you say that there is one particular person from that period that you connect with?

At the end of the book, you write a whole chapter on Lorna Byrne, the Irish Mystic who can see angels. Indeed the book is dedicated to her. What is it about Lorna that has had such an effect on your life?

Has she changed your belief system in any way?

The idea of angels intervening in the world is one that runs throughout the book? What about free will?

Many people listening would say they believe in both angels and spirit guides who help them through life. Would you say they are one and the same thing?

In The Sacred History you mention near death experiences and spiritualism, though the concept of reincarnation doesn’t seem to be covered, although it is connected with these two subjects. Does that mean that you don’t believe in it?

You mention Rudolf Steiner on several occasions in the book. Would you say that his influence has been overlooked by most people in the Mind, Body and Spirit world?

One thing you don’t mention in the book is the possible intervention in human history by other beings from other planets. I know you do mention the story of the Nephalim from Genesis, but I wonder whether the story of the Annunaki or Ezekiel’s vision of the flaming craft might have merited a mention?

I would say that much of The Sacred History has been a battle between the materialists on one side and the idealists on the other. Wouldn’t you say that most of us humans are a bit of both?